DOJ Urges Judge to Deny Defendant’s Jan. 6 Request to Attend Trump Inauguration

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday urged a federal judge to reject a request by a defendant convicted of taking part in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next month, according to a lawsuit.

Cindy Young of New Hampshire was convicted earlier this year in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia of four misdemeanor charges for participating in the Capitol riot and was sentenced to four months in prison as well as probation — which included conditions barring her from enter Washington, DC without the approval of her supervisor.

Last week, Young requested permission to attend Trump’s inauguration in a filing that she “poses no threat of danger to the community and she is not a flight risk.”

However, prosecutors with the Department of Justice disputed this argument, pointing to repeated calls for “retaliation” from Young in the years since Jan. 6 against jurors, judges and law enforcement officials involved in the Capitol trespass cases.

“The risk Young presents to those in DC did not end with her exit from the building,” prosecutors said in their Wednesday filing, also in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

They further noted that Young has publicly “taunted” officers attacked by the pro-Trump mob, many of whom “will once again be tasked with protecting the Capitol and the Constitution on January 20, 2025.”

“As such, her presence at an event staffed by law enforcement would not only pose a danger, but would cause further victimization for the officers that Young has publicly mocked,” they said in the filing.

Young is just one of a number of defendants on Jan. 6 who have requested permission to attend Trump’s inauguration.

Retired Republican Rep. Chris Stewart invited Russell Taylor, a California man who pleaded guilty to a felony for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, to the dedication. However, Taylor must also receive permission from a judge to travel to Washington, DC, after he “repeatedly called for violence and a show of force” to overturn the election and on January 6 led a mob that overran a police line near the opening day stage , while carrying “an exposed knife atop a bulletproof chest plate and carrying bear spray,” according to his sentencing record.

Taylor received credit from Judge Royce Lamberth, who oversaw his initial case and will determine his ability to travel to Washington, for his agreement to enter a plea deal, but he has not yet decided whether he will be allowed to attend the dedication.

Another defendant Jan. 6, Eric Peterson, also permission requested to travel to Washington for the inauguration.